Southern California -- this just in

Growing memorial for Suicide Silence vocalist Mitch Lucker

November 5, 2012 | 8:14
am

A memorial was growing on a Huntington Beach street for Mitch Lucker, the singer for the heavy metal band Suicide Silence who died in a motorcycle accident last week.

Lucker, 28, who lived in Huntington Beach, was riding his black 2013 Harley-Davidson south on Main Street about 8:55 p.m. Wednesday when he hit a light pole near the intersection with 13th Street. According to a release from the department, Lucker apparently lost control of his vehicle and was thrown from it after hitting the pole.

The motorcycle continued moving forward after Lucker was thrown and collided with a pickup truck traveling north on Main. The driver of the truck was not injured.

Lucker, who was treated at the scene by paramedics, died shortly after 6 a.m. at UC Irvine Medical Center, according to the Orange County coroner's office.

Police urge anyone who witnessed the crash to call (714) 536-5666.

Memorials were held in Riverside and Huntington Beach on Thursday night. On Main Street in Huntington Beach, people held up candles and placed written messages.

Tina Ton attended the Huntington Beach memorial and credited Lucker with turning her life around. She said she loved his music and that helped her get through college. "I owe that to Mitch," she told KTLA.

The band posted a statement on its Facebook page Thursday morning reading, "There's no easy way to say this. Mitch passed away earlier this morning from injuries sustained during a motorcycle accident. This is completely devastating to all of us and we offer our deepest condolences to his family. He will be forever in our hearts."

The band has released three albums — 2007's "The Cleansing," 2009's "No Time to Bleed" and last year's "The Black Crown" — and is described on the website of its record label, Century Media, as "the defining modern death metal band for a new generation."

On the site, Lucker is quoted describing the band's hard-core musical approach.

"This record just attacks, attacks, attacks," he says of the "Black Crown" album. "You're jumping up and down, or you're smashing something, or you're stomping something. It's simply unrelenting."

Lucker is at least the second heavy metal star to die in Huntington Beach in recent years. Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan, the drummer for Avenged Sevenfold, succumbed to a drug overdose at his home in 2009.